No Face Transplant for Chimp Maul Victim

The New Haven woman who was brutally mauled by a friend's chimpanzee last year is out of luck again—a hospital has told her it can't perform transplants on her badly disfigured face and hand. The injuries were sustained in March 2009 when Charla Nash's friend asked her to help get her perturbed pet chimp back into the house. The 200-pound animal, who went by Travis, then went berserk. He was shot by local police, but not before ripping off Nash's hand, nose, lips and eyelids leaving her permanently blind.

Nash—who is suing the primate's owner for $50 million—planned many surgeries including transplants at the Cleveland Clinic. But now the famed medical facility, which performed the first-ever face transplant in 2008, says it can't work on the chimp victim since the hand and face transplants would have to be done simultaneously and would have to come from the same donor. Her attorney Bill Monaco, told AP she is looking for alternative facilities since the operation would "significantly improve her quality of life." A face transplant would help her breathe, eat and smell, while a hand transplant would give her more independence.

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By Sabrina Jaszi in News on January 25, 2010 4:17 PM

Comments [rss]

Pachinko

The chimp's owner should donate her face and hands.

Jen S

Cripes! She can have my face and hands if I croak in the near future.

Nyctini11

Why do they have to both? Why not do the face, and figure out the hand later, or give her a mechanical/motorized or just artificial hand (although I like the hook idea!)

paulie

There's got to be more to this. There's no way she'd turn down the surgery if it could give her a face, right?

Trilby16

She should try China. I saw on TV a Chinese doctor who did a face transplant on a rustic villager whose face was half torn off by a bear. He got a pretty good result. No beauty but the guy was happy with it anyway.

NannyState

On the bright side, with her off the list, Heidi Montag moved up a spot.

Rocknrope

If given the choice, go for the face transplant and get a hook.

Dead Himmler

I would get the hook. I believe that hooks and capes are making a huge comeback in 2010.

40oz.killa

lol

palestine

Who the hell has a 200lb chimp as a pet anyway? Get a normal animal, like a goldfish or a marmot.

brooklynmouthoff

It wasn't HER chimp, Professor.

mellow_fellow

Or have children.

mellow_fellow

...the Cleveland Clinic... performed the first-ever face transplant in 2008
The Cleveland Clinic may have performed the first face transplant in the U.S. but the first-ever face transplant was done elsewhere (I seem to recall France).